MakerBot Print is our newest print-prepration software, which supports native CAD files and STL assemblies,
allows you to interact with all your printers via the Cloud, and many other exciting new features.

This design seems to me one of the best designs I have known in CNC homemade.
Congratulations and thank you very much for sharing with all of us
I will try to build it and if I succeed, I will send the photographs

1 on Y axis and 2 on X axis. 4 Nema17 on Z axis connected to individual drivers (do not connect them in series or parallel since they'll substantially lose torque in that configuration): All 4 Z motors receive the same control signal from the RADDS board.

Good afternoon. Decided to try to make your machine. The more pipe (25mm) already bought and cut. Only here there is a problem. Could you detail the "First test assembly - Chassis assembly Z axis-1.STL" decomposed into three separate parts. I'd like to print each separately. As well as the details of the "First test assembly - Chassis assembly x2 axis-1.STL" and "First test - assembly- Chassis assembly axis x2-2.STL" also decomposed into four parts. I'd like to print each separately? Thanks in advance.

In repetier host,
1) under the Objects panel: Right-click the gear icon next to the assembly you'd like to separate into multiple objects:
2) Within the menu that pops up: Click "Split Objects".
3) That's it, now you can individually move and edit the objects.

Two questions.. Do you think this could be extended to a 4x8' cutting area? And what kind of feeds and speed have you been able to achieve in plywood?

I'm basically looking to build an alternative to a ShopBot that will actually get used for full sheet plywood routing, with the goal of cutting a sheet worth of furniture pieces in a few hours. I am very tempted to start building one of these.

Answer 1:
The 38.3mm version (basically 1 1/4" emt conduit) Can be expanded up to that size. If all you plan on cutting is plywood, then no extra modification is needed in my opinion for this size.

Answer 2:
Given that my machine is smaller (2.69'-3.48') work area, and intended to cut aluminum, I've only pushed it up to 80mm/s.using 50% step over and at most 3mm pass depth as in the third video.

A larger machine for the work area you're interested in would have a bit more flexing. Your maximum feed-rate will depend on many factors mainly driven by:
-Cutting tool power (dremel, router, or high power spindle?)
-Cutting parameters (these will be limited by your machine chassis stiffness, the bigger the machine to slower you need to go).

I'm accustomed to pretty slow and shallow feeds and speeds, unfortunately. I built a very large MPCNC and the rigidity is just not enough for my purposes -- at best I can get maybe 15mm/s at 1mm depth before things start shaking too badly.

I'm really liking your design, particularly given that I could probably stow it away fairly easily when not in use, or stack them if I turn my furniture-making hobby into a business.

I also liked the MPCNC for its simplicity, but it just wasn't rigid enough for my purposes. You could probably recycle at least the tubing from the MPCNC to use on the XLNC if it comes to that. That's why I sacrificed access and simplicity for rigidity on the XLNC.
If you plan on stacking the XLNC, you might as well get longer Z axis tubing that couples the 2 machines.

The 4 z axis motors are actually pretty easy to manually level. Once leveled (assuming no thread binding) the bed remains leveled. On the previous beta version, i decided to get some low pitched threaded rods to enable faster travel along the Z-axis. DO NOT get those. High pitch screws provide many more advantages in this particular setup.

-They're much cheaper (home depot threaded rods and nuts)
-Allows table to remain at a set height during machining operation without the need to power Z-axis motors

All 4 Z axis motors are connected to individual Stepper drivers (same input signal to all drivers). This can later be modified to implement auto leveling by sending separate control signals to each Z-axis motor.

Thank you for all your help. In the end I decided the easiest way to get what I wanted quickly is to modify just a few parts of my MPCNC to allow me to mount the Root2CNC Y axis. It's not a perfect solution, but I think I can get it up and running with minimal cost and time. I'm putting a heavy premium on minimizing effort to convert an existing MPCNC in case it works well enough to publish.

If I was building from scratch I probably would choose your design. In fact I almost did, but when I built my MPCNC your design was in a much earlier stage (IIRC you only had posted movement tests at the time) and I was eager to get started. I think I may still build your design in the future for a smaller CNC for metal and intricate pieces, or in a modified form for 4 axis milling since it should be trivial to replace the bed design with a lathe. I'm very impressed and I'm a bit bummed that I don't have the time or money right now to build your design (yet).

Hi MultiCD1. The control board at this time is: 1 RADDS board + 2 CNC shield boards. your motor wiring configuration will dictate how many boards you need. If you want to get the same performance as that shown in the videos, you need to control each motor with its own stepper driver IC in order to maximize torque. I do NOT recommend connecting motors in parallel or series (this will reduce your available torque and reduce maximum RPM, thereby slowing down the machine). The bed is moved by 4 individual NEMA17 motors (so you need 4 separate stepper drivers just for that, hence why i'm using CNC shield boards): the same control signal is then fed into all 4 channels on the CNC shield boards. The X AXIS is moved by 2 NEMA23 motors, the Y axis is moved by 1 big NEMA23 motor. I'm working on some bill of materials and documentation for this machine.

The current Router mount accepts any tool with an OD of 2.549inch (64.75 mm). You can design a custom mount with different OD to hold the Spindle you referred to in your previous post. The spindle you posted has an OD of 52mm, so you will need spacers to mount it with the current adapter, or simply print a mount with a native OD of 52mm.

Also I made a mistake in my previous reply. the actual default Pipe OD has been updated to 38.3mm OD for the machine you see in the video. If you are building the 25mm version, you should build a smaller machine to increase stiffness (make the pipes at most 3.28ft or 1000mm long).

:( actually when i scaled the parts for 25.4 conduit the bearing will not fit. you are using nema 23 motors actually for some reason i thought it would be nema 17 :( .... the excitement is over for me tonight.
have a good one.
Still nice design :)
ian

Hi Ian,
Sorry i may not have been clear enough in the description. Do not scale the 3D stl models. Part of the next tasks is for me to re-compile the Solidworks parametric design with a 25mm pipe OD parameter.

Again do not scale the 3D stl files.

I use NEMA 23 as standard sizing motors since this machine is very large and has to move lots of mass without motors skipping steps. Larger motors also help to cut harder materials somewhat accurately.

I've updated the description so that people don't make the same mistake again with part scaling.

heyy, awesome work and progress!
will there be iterations for different OD?! i have 25mm Aluminium Tubes with 2mm wall thickness, since i cant find the Conduit, but this is super stiff, or will people need to scale the parts?

Remember to Post a Make!

Remember to come back and post what you've printed as Make.
It's good for the designer and the community (that means you)!
To post a Make, come back to this Thing and click Post a Make.
Or, you can use the Thingiverse Mobile app found on
Google Play
and the Apple App Store.

Show Some Love - Tip crunchysann

Step 1:Select Tip Amount

Say thanks and help crunchysann continue
to share amazing Things with the Thingiverse community.

Select Tip Amount

Step 2:Checkout

You'll need a PayPal account to tip crunchysann.
Click the button below and you will be redirected to PayPal.
Once the payment is complete, you'll be brought back to Thingiverse.